Chicken Shawarma

Tags: #MiddleEastern #meat #streetfood Serving: 6 servings Total time: 13 hours (including marinating)

Juicy, spice‑marinated chicken thighs roasted until charred and sliced, served with a creamy garlic tahini yogurt sauce in warm flatbreads.

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1200 g boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 150 g plain whole-milk yogurt
• 60 ml lemon juice
• 40 ml olive oil
• 20 g garlic, finely grated
• 12 g fine sea salt
• 6 g ground cumin
• 6 g ground coriander
• 5 g sweet paprika
• 3 g ground turmeric
• 2 g ground allspice
• 1 g ground cinnamon
• 1 g ground black pepper
• 1 g ground cardamom
• 200 g yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 10 ml olive oil (for pan)

Garlic tahini yogurt sauce

• 150 g plain whole-milk yogurt
• 60 g tahini
• 25 ml lemon juice
• 10 g garlic, finely grated
• 3 g fine sea salt
• 40 ml cold water

To serve

• 6 pita or flatbreads (360 g)
• 120 g cucumber, diced
• 120 g tomato, diced
• 80 g pickled cucumbers, sliced
• 10 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 15 ml olive oil

Steps

1. Trim excess fat from chicken thighs.

2. Combine yogurt, lemon juice, 40 ml olive oil, garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric, allspice, cinnamon, black pepper, and cardamom in a large bowl.

3. Add chicken to the bowl.

4. Coat chicken thoroughly with the marinade.

5. Cover the bowl.

6. Refrigerate for 12 hours.

7. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator.

8. Set an oven rack to the upper-middle position.

9. Preheat the oven to 230°C.

10. Line a rimmed sheet pan with foil.

11. Scatter sliced onion on the pan.

12. Drizzle the onion with 10 ml olive oil.

13. Pile the marinated chicken in a tight mound on top of the onions.